Distinguished scientist will deliver commencement address

COLUMBUS – Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will deliver the winter quarter commencement address March 19 at St. John Arena. Jackson also will receive the honorary Doctor of Science degree during the ceremony.

Approximately 1,700 degrees will be awarded at the ceremony, which begins at 1 p.m.

Graduates and guests can find complete information on the ceremony at http://www.osu.edu/commence/

A theoretical physicist who has held senior leadership positions in government, industry and higher education, Jackson has served as the president of RPI, the nation's oldest technological research university, since 1999.

Her career has also included the chairmanship of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), research in theoretical physics at Bell Laboratories, and a professorship at Rutgers University.

Over the past five years, Jackson has worked to bring national attention to what she has dubbed the "Quiet Crisis" in America – the threat to the United State's capacity to innovate due to the looming shortage in the nation's science and technology workforce. The shortfall results from a record number of retirements on the horizon, and not enough students in the pipeline to replace them because fewer American students are studying science, mathematics, and engineering.

In addition to her leadership and scientific credentials, Jackson's career has been characterized by a number of 'firsts'. She is the first African American woman to receive a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in any subject and one of the first two African American women in the country to earn a doctorate in physics. She is the first woman and the first African American to serve as NRC Chairman. She is the first African American woman to lead a national research university and also the first elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Jackson was appointed Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 1995-1999, by President Clinton. She was a professor of physics at Rutgers University from 1991 to 1995, where she taught undergraduate and graduate students, conducted research on the electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional systems, and supervised Ph.D. candidates. Prior to that, Jackson conducted research in theoretical physics, solid state and quantum physics, and optical physics at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

In 2002, she was named one of the Top 50 Women in Science by Discover magazine, and recognized in a book published by ESSENCE titled "50 of The Most Inspiring African-Americans." She also was named one of "50 R&D Stars to Watch" by Industry Week Magazine. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2000, and into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998 for her contributions as a distinguished scientist and an advocate for education, science, and public policy.

Jackson holds an S.B. in physics and a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from MIT.

Jackson is immediate past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society, and currently is chair of the AAAS Board of Directors. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society, and has advisory roles and involvement in other prestigious national organizations.

Jackson serves as a Trustee of the Brookings Institution, is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation (the MIT Board of Trustees), and serves on the boards of Georgetown University and Rockefeller University.

She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also serves on the Executive Committee of the Council on Competitiveness.

She also serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and as a director of several major corporations.